Team
In a biopharma and venture career spanning early‑stage therapeutics and company building, Dr. Philip Brainin brings 10+ years of clinical, scientific, and investment experience to his role as CEO of IsomAb. A physician‑scientist and MBA, he has a strong track record of translating cardiovascular and immunology science into value creation through disciplined portfolio construction, strategic partnering, and financing
Dr. Brainin previously served as a part of the investment teams at Sunstone Life Science Ventures and Sound Bioventures, where he defined the sourcing strategy and built a substantial biotech pipeline, converting multiple opportunities into investments across cardiovascular, renal, and rare diseases. He led cross‑functional due diligence and authored an impact framework for investors published in Nature Biotechnology.
He has advised Boards at BOOST Pharma, AnaCardio, NephroDI, VarmX (deal with CSL), and Arthex Biotech as well as the Therapeutics Advisory group at BioInnovation Institute. Dr. Brainin is an actively practising and qualified medical doctor with a PhD from the University of Copenhagen and an MBA from Copenhagen Business School, where he achieved the highest GPA in the history of the program. He has authored 40 peer-reviewed scientific publications and has been recognized with international scientific awards.
Julian Attfield is a highly experienced entrepreneurial executive in both public and private sector companies, who has taken a broad range of innovative companies and technologies from start-up phase to IPO or trade sale. Julian has had operational strategic leadership roles in a number of global manufacturing and licensing businesses, both as CFO and CEO, primarily in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical and most recently in the environmental chemistry sectors. Julian was CFO and then CEO of GeneMedix plc for their successful listing on the London and Singapore Exchanges and has therefore worked with a number of the members of the team before. He is a Chartered Accountant and FCA registered through an authorised firm to perform certain corporate finance services.
As a translational researcher for the last 32 years and Professor at Universities of Bristol, Nottingham and Pretoria, Prof Bates has spun out three companies based on his discoveries, and as Founding Director of the University of Nottingham Centre for Cancer Sciences from 2017 to 2023 has run strategic initiatives that cross multiple disciplines. David co-founded Exonate Ltd (2013), a Cambridge based clinical stage company developing anti-angiogenic eye drops where he was the Chief Scientific Officer until 2022. He has acted as a scientific advisor to major pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Takeda and Alcon. His academic research has contributed to the development of therapeutics in vascular eye disease and in cancer through collaborations with Roche and Astra Zeneca. He has published more than 200 papers and is the inventor on 13 patents.
Gary is an experienced C-level leader and drug developer across all phases of drug development (Phase 1 – 4) including NCE’s, biologics, repurposing of drugs as well as early development experience in cell based therapies. He has over 20 years’ experience across a broad range of diseases and therapeutic areas and extensive experience in negotiations with Regulatory Agencies (e.g. FDA, EMA and PMDA).
Gary is recognised as an international expert in pulmonary disease (including pulmonary hypertension and asthma) and hepatology (including infectious diseases, cirrhosis/portal hypertension and NASH (now MASH)/liver fibrosis) with expertise in evaluating drug-induced liver disease. He has extensive clinical experience as an internist in infectious diseases, intensive care and gastro-enterology/hepatology.
He has worked for Pfizer, Aerami Therapeutics Inc, Vectura Ltd and Conatus Pharmaceuticals.
Kishor has directed many biotherapeutic development programs from early pre-clinical stage through IND/IMPD enabling studies and into clinical development. He has over 26 years CMC drug life-cycle management experience, effectively translating strategic development plans into operational projects satisfying ICH guidelines for approval in USA and the EU.
He is adept at managing cross-function teams and leading technical discussions with contractors and employees in analytics, process development, cGMP manufacturing and fill/finish. He has worked with start-ups and SMEs developing biologics and biosimilars of diverse nature; peptides, complex glycoproteins, including antibodies, and also cell and gene therapies.
Kevin has worked in the pharma and biotech industry for over 18 years, primarily operating in the discovery and preclinical development phases of medicine development. Kevin has worked previously at Cytoseek, UCB, Roche, Bicycle Therapeutics and Pfizer. His expertise is in the realm of biologics and ATMP drug development, across a variety of therapeutic areas, including oncology, ophthalmology, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular, pain, anti-infectives and autoimmune diseases. In his previous roles he has also led development of regulatory strategies and coordinated cross-industry working groups focusing on regulatory aspects of biologics development.
He is currently an independent consultant with a passion for helping biotech companies such as IsomAb to deliver promising new medicines to patients who suffer from severe debilitating diseases with limited or no treatment options.
Ryan is an experienced project and product development manager within the pharma and biotech arena. He has worked for the consumer pharma company SSL International in a variety of CMC, project management, and innovation roles.
Following this, he became Head of Program Management at Oxyane Biotechnology, focusing on the development of novel expression systems, antibodies, and enzyme replacement therapies (ERT). He then served as Strategic Projects Manager and Head of Microbiome Services at CDMO Quay Pharma. Most recently, he has worked in a freelance product development and project management role.
Ryan holds master's and postgraduate qualifications in pharmaceutics, program management, and clinical research from the University of Manchester and the University of Leeds. He is responsible for driving the ISM-001 program towards key value milestones.
